“There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country. Just as we must conserve our men, women and children, so we must conserve the resources of the land on which they live.” –Theodore Roosevelt
BECOMES 26th PRESIDENT
While Roosevelt visits the Adirondacks, President McKinley is shot. He dies eight days later. A hasty inauguration ceremony is held in Buffalo, New York (above)
1901
SEPTEMBER 14
MOVES TO WASHINGTON
The family settles into the Executive Mansion, which Roosevelt renames The White House
The Family Moves to Washington
The Roosevelts made their way to the Executive Mansion in Fall 1901. The President, his pretty wife and their spirited children were one of the most popular families ever to live in the White House.
Just as their father had done, the Roosevelt children collected all manner of pets—from frogs to snakes to guinea pigs. They once brought Algonquin, Archie’s pony (above), up the White House elevator to cheer up the boy while he was recovering from diphtheria.
President Roosevelt encouraged his children’s interest in wildlife, allowing them to bring home more than just dogs and cats. The children’s White House menagerie included Ted’s parrot Eli Yale (above), Archie’s badger Josiah and, briefly, Bill the spotted hyena.
While in office, Roosevelt maintained his personal relationship to nature. He spent time with family pets, hiked—often with other officials—and kept a close eye on the birds of the White House grounds, publishing "President Roosevelt’s List of Birds."
Alice Lee Roosevelt, the President’s daughter from his first marriage, grew into an independent young woman during Roosevelt’s presidency. Like her father, she had a sharp political mind and a free spirit.
1901
SEPTEMBER
FIRST MESSAGE TO CONGRESS
Roosevelt insists that government should preserve wilderness and natural
resources “for the use and benefit of our people as a whole”
1901
DECEMBER 3
AMNH LECTURE
The Forest Unseen
CREATES NEW NATIONAL PARK
Crater Lake National Park is the first of five parks created by Roosevelt
Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot
Roosevelt, eager to increase the park system, asked chief of the Division of Forestry, Gifford Pinchot (above), to choose the first park he would protect. By 1909, they had doubled the number of national parks.
Crater Lake National Park Their first choice was Crater Lake, Oregon, a stunningly blue lake deeper than any other in the United States. Today, nearly half a million people visit the park, which includes towering cliffs and extensive forests.
Wind Cave National Park In 1903, Roosevelt created Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, which includes prairie, forested hills and one of the longest caves in the world. Since the park’s establishment, Wind Cave’s acreage has nearly tripled.
Sullys Hill Also in 1903, Roosevelt created Sullys Hill National Park, home to a variety of migratory water birds. On Devil’s Lake in North Dakota, the site is now a national game preserve.
Platt National Park, Oklahoma
When his friend Senator Orville H. Platt died, Roosevelt chose a forest rich with streams and created a national park in Platt’s honor. The area is now known as Chickasaw National Recreation Area.
Mesa Verde National Park Roosevelt protected the ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, Colorado "to preserve the works of man." Today, the site continues to be excavated, studied and preserved.
1902
MAY 22
CARRIAGE ACCIDENT
While campaigning in Massachusetts, Roosevelt is thrown from a carriage and permanently injures his left leg
1902
SEPTEMBER
BEAR HUNT
While hunting in Mississippi, Roosevelt refuses to shoot a captured bear. Shortly afterward, a toy manufacturer introduces stuffed bears and calls them “Teddy Bears”
1902
NOVEMBER
AT AMNH
Protecting Birds
Hall of North American Birds (3rd floor)
The wading birds diorama in the Leonard C. Sanford Hall of North American Birds on the 3rd floor
In the early 1900s, birds in Florida’s Cuthbert Rookery, depicted here, were hunted for their plumes, which were sold to decorate ladies’ hats. A game warden was murdered in 1905 at Cuthbert Rookery by commercial plume hunters. In response, President Roosevelt appointed more wardens and assured the Audubon Society that he was committed to ending the sale of wild bird feathers.
CREATES PELICAN ISLAND
During his administration, Roosevelt creates 51 federal bird reservations
When AMNH ornithologist Frank Chapman described the threats posed to birds on Pelican Island, Florida, Roosevelt asked, "Is there any law that will prevent me from declaring Pelican Island a Federal Bird Reservation?" There wasn’t. "Very well then," Roosevelt said, "I so declare it."
Paul Kroegel (above) was an early proponent of protecting Pelican Island. Located on central Florida’s Atlantic coast, the area was not only the first federal bird reservation, but also the first national wildlife refuge in the country, laying the groundwork for today’s more than 550 refuges.
In 1991, nearby Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge was created to protect sensitive breeding grounds for many sea turtle species, including the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), one of the largest and rarest sea turtles, whose nesting female population has dropped 70 percent in less than one generation.
The delicate dune habitat at Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge is vulnerable to encroaching development. Though threats remain, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now works to protect sea turtle nesting grounds while also allowing responsible public use.
1903
MARCH 14
ALASKAN BOUNDARY DISPUTE SETTLED
After the settlement of a dispute with Britain over the Canada-Alaska border, Roosevelt protects Alaskan lands and wildlife
1903
MARCH
YOUTH PROGRAM
Lang Science Program
VISITS GRAND CANYON
Roosevelt makes the site a national monument in 1908
"Arizona has a natural wonder which…is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world," Roosevelt said of the Grand Canyon. "Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it."
By the time he became president, Roosevelt had heard stories and seen Thomas Moran’s paintings of the canyon’s beauty (above). From the early days of his presidency, he wanted to designate the Grand Canyon as the first national park of his administration.
Mining, logging and ranching interests staunchly opposed designating the Grand Canyon a national park, so Roosevelt found another way to protect it. Under the Antiquities Act of 1906 (above), he was able to designate the Grand Canyon a national monument.
Roosevelt played a key role in protecting the Grand Canyon, but challenges remained. In 1983, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started a breeding program to rehabilitate the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) population, which at the time numbered just 22 birds.
By 1992 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began releasing the birds into the wild. Now the California condor population numbers over 320, and many birds have made the protected Grand Canyon their home.
1903
MAY
AT AMNH
Roosevelt Sculpture
Theodore Roosevelt Sculpture (1st floor)
A photo taken during a 1903 trip to Yosemite was the inspiration for the Hall’s sculpture
Begin to explore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy at this sculpture, which depicts the president during a 1903 camping trip to Yosemite National Park. Roosevelt remains unrivaled in his record of preserving wilderness and wildlife as well as managing natural resources. In 1906, Yosemite became part of that record when Roosevelt expanded the park.
CAMPS WITH JOHN MUIR
The trip leads Roosevelt to enlarge Yosemite National Park
John Muir was one of America’s most influential naturalists. A writer and conservationist, Muir contributed to the creation of national parks and founded the Sierra Club, which became one of the world’s leading environmental organizations.
As president, Roosevelt (front, right) wanted to meet this famed naturalist. He asked Muir (second from right) for a tour through Yosemite National Park in California: "I do not want anyone with me but you, and I want to drop politics absolutely and just be out in the open with you."
Upon receiving Roosevelt’s invitation, Muir wrote a friend, "an influential man from Washington wants to make a trip into the Sierra with me, and I might be able to do some forest good in freely talking around the campfire."
The two men greatly enjoyed the time they spent together. Roosevelt wrote to Muir: "I shall never forget our three camps [in Yosemite]." And Muir did help the forests of Yosemite: he convinced Roosevelt to expand the park.
1903
MAY
WINS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Roosevelt wins in a landslide. “I am glad to be elected President in my own right”
1904
NOVEMBER 8
AT AMNH
Giant Sequoia
Hall of North American Forests (1st floor)
A cross section of a giant sequoia (Sequoia gigante) in the Hall of North American Forests on the first floor
“A grove of giant redwood or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral,” Roosevelt wrote in 1916. Roosevelt greatly expanded the federal forest reserves during his presidency, establishing more than 100 forests, including Sequoia National Forest, California. Located in the Hall of North American Forests, this cross section was taken from a tree that survived over 1,300 years and exceeded 300 feet.
ESTABLISHES NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE
Roosevelt appoints the government’s most prominent forester, Gifford Pinchot, as chief. Together they create or enlarge 150 national forests
1905
FEBRUARY 1
AT AMNH
Bison & Pronghorn Antelope Diorama
Hall of North American Mammals (1st floor)
The American bison and pronghorn antelope diorama in the Hall of North American Mammals on the first floor
This diorama is set in about 1850, when the Wyoming prairie was home to tens of millions of bison. Only about 1,000 animals survived by the 1880s, when Roosevelt lived in the West and witnessed the destruction of western wildlife. As president, Roosevelt helped save the bison from extinction by initiating a captive breeding program and preserving land in Oklahoma for their release.
KEN SALAZAR
Roosevelt pioneers government efforts to protect wildlife, creating four game preserves during his presidency
1905
JUNE 2
COFOUNDS AMERICAN BISON SOCIETY
To rehabilitate Great Plains bison populations, Roosevelt joins with New York Zoological Society director William Hornaday (above) in founding this organization
1905
DECEMBER
DAVID HURST THOMAS
Signs the Antiquities Act; eventually protects 18 sites, including archeological locations of Native peoples
1906
JUNE 8
SIGNS PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT
Roosevelt expanded government’s role in areas outside of conservation. Federal meat inspection was the key component of this landmark act
1906
JUNE 30
TRAVELS TO PANAMA
The first president to travel internationally while in office; inspects Panama Canal construction
1906
NOVEMBER
AT AMNH
Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda
Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda (2nd floor)
Skeletons of an adult and juvenile Barosaurus are on display in the center of the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda on the second floor
This vaulted room, part of New York State’s official monument to Theodore Roosevelt, features quotations from his writing on nature, manhood, youth and government. The murals, painted by William Andrew Mackay, celebrate Roosevelt’s life and public achievements. Three of the murals in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda depict his leadership in the building of the Panama Canal; his role in negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth ending the 1904-1905 war between Russia and Japan (for which he became the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize) and his 1909-1910 expedition to Africa, made after he left the White House.
AWARDED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
The prize recognizes Roosevelt’s leadership in facilitating the negotiations (above) that ended the Russo-Japanese War
1906
DECEMBER 10
CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS
Concerned about resources, Roosevelt calls the first Conference of Governors to consider conservation issues
1908
MAY
FAMILY EVENT
Bat Walks
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY
In just a few days, Roosevelt protects more than 16 million acres of forest
1908
JULY 1
AMNH LECTURE
TR Symposium
END OF PRESIDENTIAL TERM
As president, Roosevelt launched programs that would protect more than 230 million acres of U.S. land
GIVES AWAY NIECE, ELEANOR, TO FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELTFIRST DAUGHTER, ALICE, MARRIES
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK CREATEDWIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK CREATEDFIRST FEDERAL GAME PRESERVE CREATEDMESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK CREATEDMILLIONS OF ACRES OF FOREST CONSERVEDFIRST NATIONAL MONUMENT CREATED
Wright brothers first flightRusso-Japanese WarUpton Sinclair's The Jungle is publishedFirst Model T Ford produced
For more information, visit amnh.org or any ticketing desk at the Museum.
YouthCaN
DATE
Ongoing
TIME
Fridays, 5:30pm-7:30pm
PRICE
Free with registration
YouthCaN is a youth-led organization that uses technology to inspire, connect, and educate people worldwide about environmental issues. Through a network of conferences, activities and events, the organization unites environmentally active youth. Participants facilitate an exchange of ideas about the environment and empower others to make a difference in their own communities. The Museum hosts the NYC YouthCaN chapter, and an annual conference brings hundreds of students together at the Museum to share their work and passion for conservation.
Urban Advantage
DATE
Ongoing during the school year
Building on Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy of bringing together a variety of New York institutions around a single cause, Urban Advantage creates a consortium of informal science institutions that are helping to improve science literacy in schools. Urban Advantage is a standards-based partnership program designed to improve students' understanding of scientific inquiry through collaborations between urban public school systems and science cultural institutions.
Family Bird Walk
DATE
Saturday, June 1, 2013
TIME
9 am, 11 am, & 1 pm
PRICE
$12
Birds were an enduring passion for Theodore Roosevelt. Families can share the wonder of observing birds by joining a Museum naturalist for a bird walk in Central Park. Young explorers and their parents will learn how to find and identify the many bird species and habitats found in our own back yard. (Binoculars and bird guides included.)
Bird Walks
DATE
Ongoing seasonally (Fall, Winter, & Spring)
TIME
Early morning and lunch time
PRICE
See website for details.
Share Theodore Roosevelt’s passion for birds by joining a Museum bird walk! Observe the vibrant migration of birds in Central Park with Museum naturalists. Learn how to use field marks, habitat, behavior, and song as aids in identification. Bird field cards included.
Science Mentoring Research Program (SRMP)
DATE
Ongoing
PRICE
See website for details.
The Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) offers high school students a one-year research opportunity with a Museum scientist. Participants will also take part in a mandatory laboratory skills course in the summer of 2013 and advisory sessions throughout the year.
Inspired by Nature: Creative Writing with Hannah Tinti
DATE
Five Tuesdays, February 5-March 5, 2013
TIME
6pm-8pm
PRICE
$325 ($295 for members)
“The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom.” —Theodore Roosevelt
This five-session creative writing class will focus on the natural world, with each session held in a different Museum hall. Read excerpts from Theodore Roosevelt’s notebooks and from the works of other great nature writers, and draw on the exhibits for onsite writing exercises and prompts. Learn the basics of nature writing as well as tips on description, structure, research, setting, and theme to complete your own writing projects. This class is open to beginners, as well as to any writer looking to take their work to the next level.
Rock ON!
DATE
Saturday, May 11, 2013
TIME
11am, 1pm, & 2:30pm
PRICE
$12
Roosevelt created his own museum as a child—you can learn to curate your own collection, too! Bring in your treasures and learn the art of creating a museum collection. Work with scientists to identify rocks and minerals, then categorize and curate a collection display you can take home.
Nature’s Compass
DATE
Thursday, May 9, 2013
TIME
6:30pm
In the spirit of Roosevelt’s passion for the natural world, authors James Gould and Carol Gould discuss their latest book, Nature’s Compass. They share the various ways animals navigate around the world – invisible sensitivities, mysterious focuses, and incredible mental abilities – and explore the many factors that are endangering animal navigation in today’s climate. Their goal is to answer the question of whether the disruption of migratory paths because of habitat destruction and global warming affects or endangers animal species.
Young Naturalist Awards
Henry Lim, Chris Raxworthy
Henry Lim, a winner of the 2011 AMNH Young Naturalists Award, presented his project to President Barack Obama at the White House in 2012.
DATE
Annual
The Young Naturalist Awards is a science competition for students in grades 7 through 12 that carries on the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt by recognizing students who have investigated questions in the areas of biology, Earth science, ecology, and astronomy.
Bat Walks
DATE
Spring 2013
TIME
8:30pm
PRICE
$40/adults, $25/children ages 12 and younger
A native New Yorker, Theodore Roosevelt was adept at discovering wildlife in the middle of the city. Set out on an urban-wildlife exploration of your own by joining a Museum bat walk! At dusk, bats leave the warm spaces under city roofs to feed on flying insects. Brad Klein, Danielle Gustafson, and other members of the New York City Bat Group will lead a walk through Central Park. Aided by a detector that amplifies the bats’ otherwise inaudible high-frequency chirps, bat watchers monitor and catalogue species that call the city home.
THE FOREST UNSEEN: One Square Meter of Growth
DATE
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
TIME
6:30pm
PRICE
$15
David Haskell recently completed a project in which he studied 1 square meter of old growth forest for a year: an exploration at the smallest scale possible, but one that took him to the edges of biological knowledge. He describes this journey in his forthcoming book.
CONSERVATION, WILDERNESS, & THE AMERICAN DREAM Hosted by Tom Brokaw
Theodore Roosevelt articulated a vision of America that emphasized natural places as elements that define a nation's character and that are foundational to the individual's rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For citizens today, those notions may be controversial, if not completely remote, from contemporary ideas of America. Experts in science, conservation, humanities and democratic principles will illuminate the 21st century imperatives that can contribute to reconstructing and expanding an American identity forged in an intimate relationship to its natural history.
HOST AND MODERATOR Tom Brokaw, an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He now serves as a Special Correspondent for NBC News and works on documentaries for other outlets.
PARTICIPANTS Douglas Brinkley, Presidential Historian and fellow in history at the Baker Inistitue and a professor of history at Rice University. Brinkley's most recent publications include The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America.
Lisa Graumlich, Dean of the University of Washington's College of the Environment. A scientist known internationally for research on climate and ecosystems - and who as a track record of getting wide-ranging groups of experts to focus on environmental issues.
Michael Novacek, Senior Vice President and Provost of Science at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Novacek was instrumental in establishing the Museum's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, Institute for Comparative Genomics, and the new research program in astrophysics.
Rick Ridgeway, is Patagoina's Vice President of Environmental Initatives where he implements the secodn two of the company's three-part mission statement to make the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
This program is part of the celebration of the reopening of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial at the American Museum of Natural History.
Animal Drawing
DATE
Thursdays, March 7 through April 25
TIME
7pm-9pm
PRICE
$160 (Materials not included)
Draw on Theodore Roosevelt’s passion for nature by learning how to sketch the wildlife depicted in Museum dioramas. The celebrated dioramas, skeletons and other distinctive features of the Museum serve as the setting for an intensive after-hours drawing course with Stephen C. Quinn, author of Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History. Learn about the gifted artists who created the world-class dioramas as you sketch subjects in their “natural” environments.
Lang Science Program
DATE
Ongoing
PRICE
See website for details.
This year, 5th-grade students will be chosen to become part of an exciting multi-year educational program with the Museum. These students will experience the Museum through classes incorporating hands-on exploration, behind-the-scenes adventures, and content-rich programming that focuses on biology, anthropology, and physical sciences (astronomy and Earth science). The program begins with a three-week summer program based at the Museum and continues into the school year with meetings that take place on two Saturdays each month. This alternating summer-school year cycle continues until the program’s conclusion, which coincides with the students’ graduation from high school.
Identification Day
DATE
Saturday, May 11, 2013
TIME
12pm-4pm
PRICE
Free with Museum Admission
Drawing on Theodore Roosevelt’s passion for collecting and identifying, the Museum hosts an annual Identification Day event. Bring your shells, rocks, insects, feathers, bones and artifacts to the Museum. Scientists will attempt to identify your discoveries while displaying some specimens from the Museum's collections. Items identified in previous years include a whale jawbone, a green beetle bracelet from Brazil and a 5,000-year-old stone spear point from Morocco.
Urban Biodiversity Network
Discover new ways to “capture” nature! In the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt’s excitement about discovering nature and collecting specimens, the Museum offers Conservation Biology courses for high school students. Students document the data they collect digitally, using open-source digital tools, such as the app “Leaf Snap.”
Windowfarms
DATE
November 2012-August 2013
The Museum is transformed into a living example of a hydroponic food garden more than 20 feet high and 30 feet wide.
This vertical garden will hang from a large glass wall in the Museum’s west-facing Weston Pavilion entrance. Part of the major exhibition Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture and built by a Brooklyn-based company called Windowfarms, this garden will grow about 250 edible plants.
Water Course
This online environmental studies course for teachers focuses on water. Learn how water shapes our planet on every level, from the chemical properties of the H2O molecule to the central role of water in global climate. You will examine why water is such a critical resource, the impact of human consumption on ecosystems, and the implications of water management.
Climate Change Ology
Find out about Earth’s climate, why it’s changing, and what we all can do to help conserve energy. Climate Change OLogy, a website for kids of all ages, presents over a dozen activities that explain the difference between weather and climate, give instructions for building your own terrarium, and explore the connections between human activity and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide. For more information, visit amnh.org.
Climate Change
This online course for teachers explores the science of climate change. Learn how the climate system works; what factors cause climate to change across different time scales; how scientists use models, observations and theory to make predictions about future climate; and the possible consequences of climate change for our planet. For more information, please visit amnh.org.
Biodiversity OLogy
Find out why biodiversity matters--and what you can do about it--on OLogy, the Museum’s website for kids of all ages. Play an endangered species game, learn how to create scientific illustrations by observing animals in your backyard, or join scientists as the travel around the world saving species, and much more. For more information, please visit amnh.org.
BioBulletin
Visit the Hall of Biodiverstiy for the latest in biodiversity research and conservation. The large screen near the entrance to the Hall of North American Forests shows a continuous loop of documentaries about scientists at work around the globe, and regular Snapshots of Earth from above that highlight natural ecosystems and the human footprint on the landscape. For more information, please visit amnh.org.
iNaturalist
To honor Theodore Roosevelt’s passion for nature and his conservation legacy, the American Museum of Natural History is teaming up with iNaturalist.org on New York is Wild! Join this project to use your observation skills to identify New York City invertebrates, share your findings, and learn how to protect these exceptional species.
Visit amnh.org/Roosevelt or www.inaturalist.org and look for the project NEW YORK IS WILD! to find out more about how YOU can get involved.
